Tag: garden

Death By Laundry – 11th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Who wants to watch the world a-tumble?
Turned on by private words now shared
The world, a worthless judge and jury
A cult of celebrity being compared

Wars aren’t felt when kept abroad
Out of sight and out of mind
Every channel, a meaningless opinion
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Rewind.

People are strange; they are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.

Charles Bukowski

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to watch and hear all the birds in our garden each morning.

Time Of The Gypsies – 9th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I’ll take my shoe and crush you
What will my spirit do without wings?
He takes and he smiles
The tap is left running

A sheep led through mud
The house will be white like milk
The working man gets the turkey
Talking to the turkey

What did he do to my daughter?
He ruined my daughter!
Winged sunny bird, winged sunny bird
Follow my lead, what trouble brought you here?

Special lime for the girl brings a smile
Who will carry such a sack?
Fire is the basis of everything
Do you know how to kiss?

Mother of the forest, mother of the rock
White as milk
Like Richard Gere
A turkey tied to a foot

I can hold my breath
And then the curtain comes down
The turkey makes a run
You’ve got a magnet on your lips

There’s a ghost at work
A mirage, take the case and run
The smoke came out his ears
No money, no faith, you army bastard
I’ll pull out your eyes

He wants to slaughter me and left me hanging
Is there a place for me?
The moonlight smiles and I cannot jump my shadow
And I cannot die

The bells are ringing, that I cannot die
Who are you to hang yourself?
Love will hang us all
Bring me home and tell my story

A crying donkey
Play another song, too old to dance in the park
Dinner is a scene and the night a dream
Burning in bed, a mountain fairy mother

God gave, God took, what can I do?
I am an army bastard
The water spirits swinging fire
Blood risen floating desire

A slap in the face for the seeing
Angelic baptism
The champion is here, the protagonist in a white feather fanfare
Money for the madhouse

How does this hang together?
Your love is not worthy of my daughter
Look upon her beauty, all-white
Trouble is coming, you’ll kiss my feet

A ride initiated, even lost my shoes
Mother save me
For the last time – money or life
Do you want my soul?

A turkey on the table
Damn all you dead and living
I’ll lift up your walls until the rain comes in
Don’t cry, mother

Can you separate the earth from the sky?
Bloodletting to save a life
Exorcise the demons with its power
Where are you hiding?

You should be kissing my feet
The journey is just starting
There are angels and devils in my house
Unsure which is witch

Best enjoyed whilst watching the first thirty minutes of Emir Kusturica’s ‘Time of the Gypsies’

When choosing people to associate with, do not be mesmerised by their reputation or taken in by their surface image they try to project.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to give our limes to Auntie Sue when she needs them, asking over the fence.

5th Sept 2023 – Both of the lime trees next to the fence have since died, eaten away inside by some bug. The other lime trees around the garden in various spots are still doing well though.

Out Of Reach – 20th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

These people left holes all over the world
Because they didn’t follow their heart
Saw a life far beyond their reach
So they never even bothered to start

…mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

Woody Allen

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Nut and Brunotoday, for supplying me with more bagels and a small tree for the garden plus some ideas for other plants too.

The Week That Was – 3rd June 1979

The Sacrificed Citizens – 29th March 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Once there were rules to the war games
A gentleman’s game of death and glory
Now our principles attend more barbaric aims
And the winners may rewrite the story

No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.

from Farnam Street blog

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the weird tree/plant that was growing next to our garage. It blew down in the storm last night. It should regrow but will take a couple of years to get as big again.

A Cola – 22nd March 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

A life born of consumption
My guts bubble in excitement
My body has these nightmares
Of a past now forgotten
Perhaps returned and crushed
Repurposed and reused
When you look inside
I’ll pop bubbles on your nose
Soon my existence will be elsewhere
As another form of recycling
No more thoughts

Inspired by the ‘Everything Is Alive‘ podcast. Won’t someone please think of the cola!?

Unlucky is the man who is born with great expectations and who finds nothing in life quite up to the mark.

John Burroughts

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Amy’s mum who cares and does little bits and pieces around the garden.

The Past Was Someone Else – 18th March 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

I know I did wrong that time
And my excuses were poor
I didn’t need to defend myself
Or lie about it anymore
Those actions were not mine
They were a me in the past
I hope you can forgive me
So I can forgive myself at last

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew.

Abraham Lincoln

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to have the tools and equipment to do a little bit of gardening myself and cutting and sweeping yesterday made for a good achievement.

The Week That Was – 29th April 1979

Me And You, Talking – 14th March 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It was something that you said
I took it to my heart
You don’t remember it
Insignificant on your part

Those words always guided me
As you moved further away
I repeated those words often
It became a thing that I would say

Now I no longer speak it
Just as you have too
The language is forgotten
That made me me and made you you

14th Mar 2022 – I’m not quite certain what, or more likely who, inspired this poem. I had a couple of candidates until I got to the last stanza. I like the wordplay in the last line but don’t think I wrote the poem just to use it!
As for the quote below, I can imagine using this in reference to many people I have met or know but every time I do that with words of wisdom I remind myself that I should be applying this to myself.

It is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Epictetus

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the delicious smelling flowers and tasty fruit and veg in our garden.

The New Pleasure – 11th March 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

There’s a devil on one shoulder
And an angel on the other
Whispering in opposites
Whether I should even bother
One looks upon this as virtue
The other as if it’s sin
I’ve got to brush them away
If I’m ever to begin

To assume you are below average is to admit you’re still learning. You focus on what you need to improve, not your past accomplishments.

Derek Sivers

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for our overabundance of mulberries. I picked a whole bowl yesterday and they’ve only just started (fruiting).

A Meta Verse – 27th February 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Would you volunteer for a fatal addiction
To an electrical pleasure, brain implant
The sum of all pleasure, constant highs
A simple flick of the switch would grant?
Would you sacrifice your suffering
The demons and devils of your daily fight
The needles that give you balance
Just to die tomorrow in orgasmic delight?

We own our own minds – and together, we can take them back from the forces that are stealing them.

Johann Hari

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to watch my garden grow and change over time. It’s amazing.

Guiding Light – 28th January 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Follow the North Star
A guide towards a future
Adapt to ever-changing skies
A night grows darker
Before it lightens again
Come and go like the moon
Like the wind, like the clouds
But the air is always there
Never seen, but always there

Struggle in the quicksand and you only sink deeper.

Eric Barker

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to see a beautiful crescent moon and a bright Mars in the dark morning sky, bordered by the trees of our wonderful garden. Wow.

Quoting the Dispossessed

A scientist can pretend that his work isn’t himself, it’s merely the impersonal truth. An artist can’t hide behind the truth. He can’t hide anywhere.

I took note of this quote last year when I was reading Ursula Le Guin’s ‘The Dispossessed’ as it obviously struck a chord. And re-reading it, it still strikes a chord but I’m struggling to define it. Is it true? An artist can’t hide behind the truth? A scientist, I understand, doesn’t have to care that 1 = 1 and 2 = 2. An artist, even if faking it, still shows their truth. Or can a really good artist actually hide?

Perhaps I took note of this considering myself as an artist? Today, I’m doubtful, but whatever. I’m putting this out into the world as an artistic skill (good or bad depending on your opinion) but my tablet is a search for truth. I cannot hide. But what of the fiction writer – they are artists. They could write about unspeakable acts that they would never dare carry out. Are they hiding, or are they still showing a truth?

I don’t know. And I wish my friend Steve was here to dig into this deeper. It is exactly the kind of topic that we would love to discuss long into the nights and early into the mornings. Although things seemed murkier then, they somehow also seemed clearer.

Yesterday, got home feeling good. Had a really great class with the grade 8 TED-Ed students that had me feeling very upbeat. I made it into my room for more keyboard experimentation and a little guitar playing before Amy called me in as it was time for termite attack mode.

We poured about eight litres of the killing liquid into the hole and it all disappeared. I’m thinking that down there, they must have eaten through the concrete foundations and so it’s possible the liquid is getting soaked into the earth. It’s likely that the termites will be back again at some point, no matter what we do.

After that, I was just chilling and munching on Amy’s yummy tarts that she had made. I also started to feel some minor dread at her not being here. I have made some plans in my mind about how the days will be from next week but they could all go to hell in a handbasket quite easily once it comes down to actually implementing them. I guess I’m also preparing for that possibility too. Just relax into it. Things will be ok.

A good morning this morning. Cold and a beautiful crescent moon in the sky, with a crocodile-looking cloud right on the mountains on the horizon.

During my abs workout, I noticed a tightness in my thighs from the previous day’s leg workout and it all feels good. Working towards that target of ongoing good health.

I started my first class just by watching funny cat videos, which most students ignored cos they were looking at their phones – but it made me feel happy and calm. Subsequently, the class went well. Though they are not the best at English, at least they gave it their best. 2/9 continues to impress me and it’s got me thinking about if I teach them next year, then what the hell can I do with them? They are so good that they test me.

What’s your philosophy on celebrating birthdays as an adult? How do you celebrate yours?

I don’t really think about birthdays and any celebration is minor and usually involves just going for a nice meal somewhere. I don’t feel any kind of excitement around celebratory days. For me, they are just another day.

I don’t mind celebrating other people’s special days and I would be in trouble if I didn’t partake in our wedding anniversaries! But again, these celebrations generally revolve around food and getting a nice meal somewhere.